Island Ballin'

The most beautiful sight I've seen thus far are the dilapidated basketball courts all throughout this country: on mountains, in the jungles, sandwiched between churches or next to cemeteries. These Filipinos really love the game. The baskets are often make of bamboo with plastic tying it all together. The surfaces are usually dirt with large, metal scraps sticking up through the ground. And, oftentimes, there will be a goat strolling baseline to baseline or a pig asleep at the top of the key. The strange thing is the majority of these courts lay abandoned while dudes everywhere can be seen doing nothing more than lazily passing the time, shooting the shit with their neighbors. Is it too hot? Not enough money for a ball?

Yesterday, on Batayan Island, I found a guy near my age shooting around. He flashed me that pure, Filipino smile and invited me to join. After hitting a few sweet Dirk step-back Js, I noticed a crowd was gathering. From out of the jungles, under cars and off scooters, it seemd all the town's men were attracted to the courts like flies to a Koolaid spill. They cam shirtless, hungry and cautious. Eventually, a guy asked if I wanted to play 5 on 5. "Of course," I said. Then he explained that they always bet on their games and asked if I'd cover his team. As always, I was skeptical but Gally told me this was how they did it. Anyways, they only asked 1.50$ so I was happy to give it for a game.

Immediately, I saw that Filipinos really can ball. They all play in flip-flops and play on when one slips off. They aren't like Koreans, or even the Chinese when it comes to ball. They handle, cut, cash, rebound and finger-roll with style. And it was all very organized, with a ref to keep for disputes brief.

There were occasions when my teamates continually didn't get back on defense or dropped my sweet dime at the hoop that I wondered whether they were hustling me, losing on purpose. But they kept giving me the ball, and I kept punishing the mal-nourished on the post. We lost by one point, on a freethrow. A freethrow!!!??? Game point turned into some fiasco where we just foul 5 shots in a row until they get a freethrow to win. Eitherway, it was a good game and a crowd of tanned islanders went home happy. Next time, fearing the fix is in, I'll be less unselfish and, if they're really unlucky, I might UNLEASH THE SHEED!